From the Home Place

January 18, 2026

Yep, more wind. Years ago, the old timers told me that this is how the Dirty Thirties started. I’m sure enough praying this wind to stop, and for moisture to start soon.

Take a gander at the photo at the bottom of this post and tell me how difficult your life is. It seems that there are folks who live around us that struggle for every inch of progress they make. It’s easy for us to look at their life and ask, “What did they do wrong that they should have such a struggle?” You see my friends, it is easy to blame someone for their difficulties, yet we don’t want anyone judging our lives when things get difficult.

I know, there is the old saying that states, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” But you see, it seems as if sometimes life happens to some folks. It’s not the path they chose; it’s not the decisions they have made; it just often seems that life picks on some folks more than it picks on others. Oh, for sure, we have all had enough trials during our days on this ‘ol ball of dirt, but there are some folks that are left with a burden no matter what they attempt to do. Why is that?

I will begin my answer to that question with a very simple “I don’t know.” Yet I trust in a very sovereign God who allows each of us to go through difficult times, and then He allows some folks to live in those situations most all of their lives. But you know, maybe He’s really trying to teach the rest of us to show compassion, instead of voicing complaints.

In John 9 we find the first disciples of Jesus asking a question about a blind man who had been brough to Jesus, “And His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’” You see, things really haven’t changed much, have they? We still tend to look at a person who is struggling and asking similar questions. We often assume that someone had to do something wrong, or this person would not have to live within their difficult circumstances.

John 9:3 continues, “Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” Just like those first disciples, we tend to judge what’s wrong, instead of asking what God is trying to show us.

In John 9, God allowed the man to be born blind so that the disciples of Jesus could witness the amazing power of God working through Jesus Christ. Now, I wonder, the next time any of us see a person trying to pull a heavy load, could it be that God is attempting to show us His amazing power of Jesus working through our lives?

I must confess, it is way easier to judge and walk on, than it is to show compassion. I would take a look at the feller in this picture and say, “What an idiot, he can’t pull those logs with that bicycle!” Most likely, it would never occur to me to hook my four-wheel-drive pickup onto the wagon and help him move those logs. But perhaps, just perhaps, God is wanting to show me how powerful it can be when I help someone else pull their burden? Maybe it never was about the other person, the whole situation was presented by God so that He could get me to put my faith into action?

Pulling together with you, Neal